Hurricane Irene damage is staggering in Cranford, where Rahway River flooded homes, roads

CRANFORD — The meandering Rahway River had always been one of the things that drew people to Cranford.

Families rented canoes from the local canoe club to paddle through town. Joggers ran along winding paths along the river’s banks. Cranford’s ties to the water helped earn the Union County township the nickname "Venice of New Jersey."

But this weekend, the river shocked much of the town when it broke through dikes and overflowed earthen dams to flood residential neighborhoods and downtown streets.

"No one expected this," said Normandie Place resident Chris Quigley, who had three feet of muddy water in his newly-remodeled kitchen.

Among towns still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Irene yesterday, Cranford remained one of the hardest hit.

Mayor Dan Aschenbach said the damage is staggering: Nearly 1,300 residences — or more than 15 percent of the township’s houses — have significant flood damage. Of those, nearly 200 houses had water up to the first floor. Seven have already been condemned. More than 6,000 residents lost power. The municipal complex and police station were under water.

"This is the worst disaster ever to hit Cranford," Aschenbach said. "Neighborhoods that normally don’t see flooding saw significant damage — more than a foot of water in some first floors. We didn’t see a lot of that during (Hurricane) Floyd."

In Springfield, a few miles north of Cranford, the Rahway River reached nearly 10 feet early Sunday morning — about 4.5 feet above flood stage, according to the National Weather Service. That was a few inches short of the record level of 10.7 feet set during Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

The river breached Cranford’s flood control measures Sunday morning, releasing waves of water into neighborhoods and downtown streets, township officials said. Yesterday, the river had receded. But the destruction remained.

Near Riverside Drive in Cranford, flooding damage stretched seven blocks back from the river, nearly reaching Orange Avenue Elementary School. Childhood friends Rich Loxley and Joe Pijanowski, who grew up together in Cranford, spent the day dividing the salvageable pieces from the completely destroyed items in Loxley’s house.

"This is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Just look around, look at what people have lost," Pijanowski said.

The water in Giselle Sedano’s house rose nearly five feet into the second level of the split level she bought two years ago with her sister. Sedano’s early morning jogs along the Rahway River in Nomahegan Park would be "traumatic" after seeing the river’s power, she said.

"It’s painful to live here, as beautiful as it is," said Sedano, 25.

More than 2,000 people evacuated Cranford before the storm. Though most had returned to their homes or were staying with friends and relatives, a shelter opened last night at 220 Walnut St. for anyone who needed a place to sleep, county officials said.

Most of the residents who were back in their houses had no power. A PSE&G substation was underwater and electricity may not be restored to the area until Sunday, township officials said in a letter they began distributing to residents yesterday.

On South Avenue, business owners were assessing their damage. Kilkenny House, an Irish pub and restaurant, had 20 feet of water engulfing the basement and half of the bar during the height of the flooding. The building will probably have to be gutted, said owner Barry O’Donovan.

"If there’s ever a time that small businesses needed the government, it’s now," O’Donovan said.

Across the street, Mr. J’s sandwich shop opened for business with a rented generator and a borrowed coffee urn. A family who came into the shop early yesterday asked for sandwiches.

"I told them, ‘I don’t have much,’ but they didn’t care," said owner John Taggert. "They said, ‘We just want to be some place where we don’t have to think about our house for 15 minutes.’"

Aschenbach, the mayor, said Cranford is resilient.

On Monday night, he saw residents near the river who had their houses destroyed talking and laughing as they commiserated in front of their residences on Balmiere Parkway.

"It speaks to this town and its people," Aschenbach said. "To have so much happen to them and to still be able to have such camaraderie, tells you what type of people we have here in Cranford."